Feryl Steps Out
Feryl's lack of self-confidence drives him out of the Spectral Knights and right into Darkstorm's scheming. Synopsis On the untamed cultivated plains of Prysmos sails the ship of land pirates! Driven the gusts of mother nature, their wheeled galleon rolls into a small farming hamlet and the pirates promptly begin pillaging. Before they can get away with their spoils, the Spectral Knights Leoric and Feryl arrive in the Capture Chariot to save the village. Leoric dives straight into action against the pirate leader, while Feryl goes for the main bulk of the group. The pirates are a sprightly bunch though and dodge out of the Capture Chariot's way, causing Feryl to crash it into the side of a well. He is quickly set upon by the pirates, only for Leoric to save him. The Spectral Knight leader dashes into a Scout Pod and uses its power of Fire to destroy the pirate's land-ship, forcing them to flee on foot. Leoric lands to a hero's welcome from the villagers, leaving Feryl sitting despondently on the side, consumed with feelings of failure. Later, back at New Valarak, he decides to leave the Spectral Knights entirely, despite Galadria's protests, and departs in the Capture Chariot, telling Arzon to inform Leoric that he's doing what he thinks is right. This is all witnessed by a spy, who follows Feryl to a local tavern before reporting all this to Darkstorm and Mortdred. The two Darkling Lords travel to the Sign Of The Ram and try to recruit Feryl. When Feryl rejects angrily, Darkstorm tries to use force, but the young Knight fights back, much to the Innkeeper's dismay. Darkstorm summons Decay, but Feryl switches to this wolf totem and escapes to the Capture Chariot and its greater firepower. Cutting their losses, the Darkling Lords escape in the Sky Claw. Feryl watches them go and swears that he still has his honour. This is overheard by the innkeeper, who reminds him that a man of honour pays his bills. Though he failed to recruit Feryl, Darkstorm sees that their is still great opportunity in the situation. Collecting Cravex, they travel to New Valarak and have him use Fear on the sleeping Leoric. Leoric has a nightmare of Feryl strung up in a dungeon and being attacked by gators, so quickly dresses and dashes off to his rescue. Just outside the gates to the city he finds Feryl hanging from a tree, but as he goes to cut him down, it's revealed to be Virulina in a replica of Feryl's armour, who knocks Leoric down. The Darkling Lords' gloating is cut short when they realise Leoric is just playing possum. Leoric, Darkstorm and Cravex all fight in their totem forms, with the phylot managing to fly the lion to the Dagger Assault. Trapped in the magical dungeon, Leoric is stripped of his totem. Tooling around in the Capture Chariot, Feryl notices that there's a vehicle approaching behind. Hiding off the side of the road, he sees the Dagger Assault go past, with Leoric inside. Using a Scout Pod, Feryl sneaks aboard the Dagger Assault as it returns to Darkstorm's castle, cursing that his actions have still caused more trouble. He's overheard by Reekon, forcing Feryl to ditch onto the road. The Darkling Lords string Leoric up in their dungeon allowing Darkstorm to gloat about the Spectral Knights' weak position, as they're now missing two members and their Capture Chariot. The Darkling Lords will soon strike. Outside, Feryl dodges past some gators to gain access to the castle's sewers. Mortdred brings Lexor and Cindarr to Darkstorm's planning session. Upon Virulina's advice, Darkstorm consults Leoric's captured Widsom power staff about whether his plan will succeed, but is simply told "tonight a great many warriors shall taste bitter defeat" with no context. The Lords break to prepare for their attack. Feryl gains access to the dungeon and apologises to Leoric for continually managing to cause problems. As Feryl struggles with Leoric's bindings, Mortdred launches a sneak attack from a hanging rope, but manages only to sail past the two and into a wall. Feryl presses the attack, ultimately managing to get the best of Mortdred. However, the wall Mortdred is backed into has an alarm that he rings, summoning the rest of the Darkling Lords! Feryl deals with Mortdred and frees Leoric, but the pair can't escape until Leoric recovers his totem and his power staff. Upstairs, Darkstorm releases a stream of boulders into the sewers, limiting the routes of escape. The Darkling Lords run to the dungeon and Darkstorm narrowly prevents Cindarr from mistakenly bashing the tangled up Mortdred. Learning that Feryl has freed Leoric, the Lords split up across the castle to search, but most of them seem to take more interest in destroying Darkstorm's possessions instead of searching in earnest. Leoric and Feryl have made it to the outside of a tower, directly above the Dagger Assault. Despite the height, the pair leap down into the vehicle, to Reekon's disgust. Feryl deals with Reekon before setting the dungeon to restore Leoric's totem. This is spotted by Virulina, who alerts the other Lords. Needing more time, Leoric persuades Feryl to delay them. Belying his lack of confidence, Feryl heads off the remaining Darkling Lords and goads them into releasing Destruction. The beast makes his way for Feryl, but causes even more damage to the castle. Feryl evades the beast in his wolf totem until he is saved by the repowered Leoric in his lion form. As the beast comes down with the walls, Lexor uses his power of Invulnerability to protect himself and the other Lords. Leoric and Feryl land safely and race past the recovering Reekon to the Dagger Assault. Switching back to human form, they drive the vehicle through the raised drawbridge and into the moat to make good their escape. They go to retrieve the Capture Chariot, but Darkstorm and Mortdred attack in the Sky Claw. The Knights manage to shoot down the Sky Claw though and it crashes into Darkstorm's bedroom. Later, Leoric soothes Feryl's anxiety, making him realise that while he may not be as heroic or dashing or witting as his allies, he has his own qualities that the others can't match. With Feryl's self-confidence restored, and their breakfast burnt, the two friends return to New Valarak. Characters In order of appearance Quotes "One nice thing about do-gooders like Leoric -- they are SO predictable." "He should have consulted his power staff first. I would never try to rescue one of my friends." "That, my dear, is why you HAVE no friends." :- Darkstorm and Virulina discuss the drawbacks of friendship. Darkstorm: "What are you doing?! Why are you vandalising my home?" Cravex: "Do you want me to find 'em or not?" Lexor: "They are crafty, cunning fighters -- you don't want them to escape, do you?" Darkstorm: "No, but try to show a little less enthusiasm" SMASH Cravex: "Nope. Not here, either." :- Darkstorm discovers the cost of evil-doing. "My armour! My antique armour!" "They're not in there!" "I know they're not in there! Any idiot could tell they're not in there! All you have to do is look inside!" "Hey! You're right! I guess that's the reason you're the leader." "Actually, Cindarr, sometimes I wonder why I want to be the leader." :- Who says villains like Darkstorm don't learn lessons? Notes Animation and technical errors *Darkstorm's gloves are coloured as flesh while in the Sky Claw. * Reekon uses a flashlight to search for the sound of noise on the Dagger Assault. A, er, magic flashlight? The script just calls for a light, so this is presumably the animators' mistake. Story errors *So Feryl can just desert the Spectral Knights and take the Capture Chariot - their main method of transportation - with him? *The Darkling Lords are apparently able to craft an exact replica of Feryl's armour, even with totem, at very short notice. *It takes a loooong time to restore Leoric's totem, especially compared to how long it took to remove it. Maybe it's just down to Feryl's inexperience with the controls. *The Owl of Wisdom doesn't give one of his usual nuggets of obtuse advice, instead making something of a prophecy. Continuity notes *This makes the second episode in a row where Feryl has driven the Capture Chariot into a stationary obstacle. Did Merklynn not check he had his driving license before giving him his power? Trivia *Feryl gets overheard while monologuing twice in this episode, which is a fun subversion of dramatic conventions. *The Beast of Destruction is here called a "goblin", which doesn't really gel with its appearance, but hey, it beats "Wombat Beast" *The full script for this episode is included with the Metrodome DVD release. Elements cut from the script include: **The spy was to be a "buxom young woman in peasant dress" rather than the armoured woman who appears on screen. **Feryl encounters a spike trap in the dungeon that he manages to safely set off with a branch. **His journey to the dungeon also involves a lengthy sequence where he fights off a tentacle monster. **There's a much bigger fight between Feryl and the Darkling Lords scripted, which leads to Lexor getting Cindarr to call Destruction after Feryl's knocked them around, rather than immediately jumping to that plan. Home Media Releases *Hi-Tops Video Volume 2 *Metrodome Complete Series DVD Category:Fiction Category:Animated Series